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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 2020)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020 Trump’s environmental rollback could affect the Pacifi c Northwest SPECIALS FOR JAN 15 TH - JAN 21 ST By CASSANDRA PROFITA Oregon Public Broadcasting A new Trump adminis- tration plan to scale back a bedrock environmental law could affect all kinds of proj- ects in the Northwest, includ- ing timber sales, hydroelec- tric dams and large energy developments like the con- troversial Jordan Cove lique- fi ed natural gas project with its 235-mile Pacifi c Connec- tor pipeline. On Thursday, the Trump administration announced major changes to the National Environmental Pol- icy Act regulations with the stated goal of accelerating the approval process for infra- structure projects. The proposal’s critics in the Northwest say the new rules are undemocratic and illegal, and many are hop- ing they will be challenged in court and thrown out. The act requires the fed- eral government to review the environmental impacts of major projects before approving them. The reviews analyze projects’ impacts on air and water quality, wildlife and other natural resources. They’re also required to con- sider alternatives that would have fewer impacts. The administration’s regu- latory changes put new time limits and page limits on the federal government’s envi- ronmental reviews, reduce opportunities for public input and allow some projects to be completely excluded from the review process. A new category of projects with “minimal federal funding or involvement” wouldn’t require any kind of environ- mental assessment. While the regulations don’t change the law itself, they dramatically change how the law would be imple- mented by federal agencies. Market LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED WHERE THE MEAT LOVER’S SHOP Cassandra Profi ta/Oregon Public Broadcasting Fish advocates say sending water through spill bays is the best way to ensure fi sh survival through dams in the Columbia and Snake rivers. in federal decisions that impact the air we breathe, the water we drink and the public lands we cherish,” Cantwell said in a statement. “This NEPA rewrite favors big pol- luters and corporate profi ts over balanced, science-based decision-making and would prevent Washingtonians from voicing their views.” Tom Buchele, a profes- sor of environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School, said the new regula- tions make “anti-democratic changes” that will reduce the amount of information the government needs to disclose about its projects and dis- courage the public from par- ticipating in the environmen- tal review process. “No one likes to admit publicly that they’re going to do something that’s going to have a really adverse effect or is going to hurt the environ- ment,” he said. “Agencies do change what they’re propos- ing because it looks like the impacts are going to be bad.” Buchele said he was stunned to see that the new regulations eliminate the need for agencies to review the cumulative effects of their actions. That could exclude climate change consider- ‘THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLEARLY DOESN’T WANT TO DISCLOSE THE IMPACTS OF OIL AND GAS TERMINALS OR PIPELINES OR OTHER CLIMATE-WRECKING PROPOSALS.’ Brett VandenHeuvel | executive director of the environmental nonprofi t Columbia Riverkeeper In its announcement, the administration said the cur- rent regulations have ham- pered the approval of proj- ects involving roads, bridges, airports, railways and water- ways and that the changes will modernize the 50-year- old law so that new projects can be built in a “timely, effi - cient and affordable manner.” U.S. Sen . Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Jeff Merk- ley, D-Ore., were quick to slam the proposal for exclud- ing climate change as one of the environmental impacts agencies would need to con- sider under the act . “NEPA has provided gen- erations of Americans a say ations from reviews, he said, but it also would affect things like how the U.S. Forest Ser- vice reviews the environmen- tal impacts of its timber sales on nearby watersheds. If the agency has more than one timber sale in a watershed, the act would normally require the agency to review the cumulative impacts of all of its timber sales on that watershed. “It prevents the agency from splitting things up and saying, ‘Well this thing that we’re doing here is not going to have an effect,’ when in fact they’re doing fi ve things that together will have big impacts,” Buchele said. The new regulations would also exempt con- fi ned animal feeding opera- tions that have federal loans or loan guarantees, Buchele said, and they would intro- duce a bond requirement for anyone trying to get the court to halt a federal action. “That’s huge,” he said. “If there’s a bond requirement imposed on small environ- mental groups it’s going to keep them from going into court.” Buchele said the changes might not affect projects that have already gone through the process, such as the Jor- dan Cove LNG project and Pacifi c Connector pipeline. Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of the environmental nonprofi t Columbia Riverkeeper, said the act is responsible for key government analyses of envi- ronmental impacts of oil and coal terminals proposed in the Northwest and dam oper- ations in the Columbia River b asin. “By requiring agencies to disclose the impacts of these projects to the people, it leads to better decisions,” he said. “Sometimes it leads to proj- ects changing. Sometimes it leads to projects being denied.” VandenHeuvel said the Trump administration is try- ing to “gut” a fundamental right of Americans to know the impacts of government actions. “The Trump administra- tion clearly doesn’t want to disclose the impacts of oil and gas terminals or pipe- lines or other climate-wreck- ing proposals,” he said. “They would rather see industry have a free ride to do these projects without public involvement.” VandenHeuvel said he thinks the new regulations are illegal and hopes they will be challenged in court and thrown out. Buchele said he’s not so sure about that outcome. “I hope that’s true,” Buchele said. “But Trump has done quite a job trans- forming the judiciary, and I think some of the judges he has put on the federal bench are not going to have a prob- lem with this.” There will be a 60-day public comment period on the rules and two public hear- ings before the fi nal regula- tions can go through. Feds see minimal impact on wildlife in proposed LNG project Jordan Cove project at Coos Bay Associated Press COOS BAY — Federal authorities suggested the environmental impact of a proposed liquefi ed natural gas terminal and pipeline in southern Oregon would be minimal, saying the conten- tious project wouldn’t jeop- ardize protected species or adversely change their criti- cal habitat. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration said its review shows that the affects of the pro- posed Jordan Cove lique- fi ed natural gas terminal and a 230-mile feeder pipe- line along Coos Bay would be short term or on a small scale, and dispersed broadly across 250 miles. The biological study done by NOAA scientists reviewed 17 species listed under the Endangered Spe- cies Act and their critical habitats, including whales, sea turtles, salmon and other fi sh species. In November, the Fed- eral Energy Regulatory Commission’s staff in its fi nal environmental analy- sis concluded that the con- tentious natural gas export project would likely have an adverse affect on wildlife, including 18 federally-listed or proposed threatened and endangered species. The proposed marine ter- minal, in Coos Bay, would allow export of American liquid natural gas to Asia, and it would have a 230- mile feeder pipeline from an interstate gas hub in Klam- ath County. The pipeline would transport the natural gas, which would be con- verted from a vapor to more compact liquid natural gas for export. “NOAA’s opinion on Jor- dan Cove will pave the way for more American jobs and vastly expanded exports of domestically sourced liq- uefi ed natural gas to prized Asian markets,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in NOAA’s announcement. “The speed of this decision was only made possible by recent reforms to the infra- structure permitting process, while still allowing the rele- vant authorities ample time to determine that no species or critical habitat would be jeopardized.” FRESH MEAT SPECIALS OF THE WEEK ST HELEN’S BONELESS BEEF NEW YORK STRIP STEAK $ 99 5 lb ST HELEN’S BONELESS BEEF CROSS RIB ROAST $ 49 3 lb GROCERY KELLOGG’S MINI WHEAT CEREAL SELECTED VARIETIES 2 FOR $ 00 6 CHERRY LANE 18 PACK LARGE EGGS ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY WATER 24 PACK $ 99 2 $ 79 EA 1 PLUS DEPOSIT FRESH PRODUCE FRESH BLUEBERRIES 6 OZ 3 FOR $ 00 5 CRUNCHY, SWEET OPAL APPLES $ 29 1 LB YOU CAN VIEW OUR FULL AD SEVERAL WAYS ONLINE AT www.MainStSelect.com facebook.com/MainStSelectMarket IN STORE find our printed ad 191 S. 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